Christmas

Well, Christmas was a blast! I know that Kate had absolutely no idea what was going on but she enjoyed all the attention she got! And she totally racked up in the present department! I mean how many other almost 5 month old babies have their own laptop and cell phone? Playschool of course, but she has to start sometime! Why not early? And I know her grandparents had a ton of fun too. It was certainly a special Christmas for us. Our first Christmas with our little girl. It will always be one of my top memories looking back!

While the festivities and presents are exciting, I cannot wait to teach her about the true meaning of Christmas. To bring a child up to know Jesus is an amazing thing! To raise a child is one thing, but to raise a child that knows our Lord is a treasure in its own!

While this Christmas season draws to an end, we look forward to 2010! 2009 was such a special year for us that it's a little bittersweet to say goodbye - it is the year that we received our enormous blessing of Kate - but we have so much to look forward to! A year of so many more firsts! I can't wait!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve at Grammy & Pops


Kate in mommy's stocking. Since mommy was born on Christmas Day, she came home in a stocking!


MERRY CHRISTMAS!


Wanna Christmas kiss?


Christmas Day at Nonnie & PawPaw's house


Cool! Presents! This is sooo exciting!


Getting the hang of it!

Today is Christmas Eve Eve

I am so excited! Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday (not to mention that it's my birthday too!) and I am so excited to be sharing this holiday with Kate. I know she has no inkling of an idea of what is about to happen but we do Christmas BIG! Lots of family time, food, and did I mention the presents? She has a ton and those are the ones from mommy and daddy and Santa!



Today was a special day. We spent part of the morning visiting with Becky and picking up a present for Kate that M had dropped off for her. It was a beautiful Baby's 1st Christmas ornament and a teddy bear. She also wrote Kate a letter, which I think is so wonderful that Kate will have when she grows up.

This Christmas our Sunday School class sponsored a family of 7 children whose parents are incarcerated and they are living with a grandma. We had so much fun shopping for them and wrapping their presents this week. Today was the day that we gave the family the gifts. Two family members arranged pickup of the gifts today and I know the kids will be super excited when they open their gifts! Merry Christmas "E" family! I look forward to teaching Kate about the important lessons of giving.

Tomorrow we will spend the day with Grammy & Pops (Jennifer's parents) and Uncle Ryan and Kristy. Christmas day, we will be with Nonnie & PawPaw (Chris' parents) and Uncle Drew and Aunt Sondra. I can't wait to share pictures of KATE'S FIRST CHRISTMAS!

A visit to Santa

The Junior League held our annual Holiday House Children's Event and Kate had her first meeting with Santa! And she did GREAT!

Kate meeting Santa

a cute little girl:



This is the picture that we are using as a Christmas card this year.

Sad day

Today, Chris and I went to the funeral of baby girl Gracie Lynne Thomas. She was just not ready to come into the world. It was a beautiful service and my heart aches for Jennifer and Mark and their family. I cannot imagine their grief right now. When I got home, all I could do was hug and kiss Kate. Life is so fragile. It's hard to understand why this happened but I know God has a plan for the Thomas family. Their (almost) 3 year old son Jonathan had some medical medical issues when he was born and they trusted in our God then as I know they will now. They will be in our thoughts and prayers in the days, months, and years ahead.

Cereal is Cool!

Kate had her 4 month pediatrician check up on Wednesday. Dr said she was doing great! Already 13 pounds and 10.25 ounces and 24.25 inches long. But the most exciting thing was he encouraged spoon feeding her cereal! YIPPPPEEE!!



Yes, it's messy! Yes, it gets everywhere! But who cares - she loves it! She sits in her Bumbo and we knock out the cereal in no time! The pediatrician said it was ok to add a taste of baby food for flavor. Green peas is was!

Big Weekend in Branson

After a great Thanksgiving meal, we had planned on packing up and heading for Branson for some Black Friday shopping deals. Mom, Dad, me, and Kate packed up and headed to Branson Thursday evening. Chris stayed home to play golf and relax. Shopping is really not any interest to him. Dad and Kate hung out at the house while mom and I hit Midnight Madness. The stores opened at midnight and we shopped til 4am! Yes, we are crazy! But we had a good time! Friday was a little rough as sleep deprived as we were. Kate woke up at 7, ready to play and didn't understand why mommy and Grammy were sleepyheads! We went for a good breakfast and went shopping again. Kate learned the ropes really fast - just ask Pops if she sees something she wants! :)




And when we came home, daddy had the Christmas trees all set up so we can decorate them for Christmas!

All Things Holiday House

OK I knew I would be busy the week of Holiday House, but I had no idea! It's like life completely stopped and Junior League took over. It was a blast but it was hard work! :) And yes, there was lots of little girl stuff there, but overall, I behaved myself! So thankful to Grammy and Nonnie for helping out with Kate while mommy worked at Holiday House - another perk of having the grandparents in town! LOVE IT! And Kate certainly loved it too!

What you are up to now

* Smiling ALL the time

* Laughing out loud and cooing when anyone talks to you - especially mommy & daddy

* Still just on formula at each feeding. You are taking about 4 ounces at each feeding, but when you are full, that's it! You turn your head to the side to get the bottle out and those little lips pucker right up - no getting a bottle in there!

* You have found your hands! You love trying to put them in your mouth! It's so super cute!

* You are too long for your 0-3 month clothing so, mommy packed them all up in a box and they are in your closet. You are in 3-6 month clothes and I can already tell that you won't be in them for long - maybe even early as Christmas! You are 26 inches long according to daddy's measurements! And 14 pounds in weight!

* Your favorite toys are the yellow duck, the pink rattle, and of course the mirror. I think you could sit in front of it for hours! You look at yourself and a huge grin spreads across your entire face and then comes the belly laugh! I am not sure if you know it's you or you think you have a friend. :)

* You love to move! Riding in the car, rocking, in the stroller, in the grocery cart - doesn't matter! As long as there is motion, you love it!

* You love "standing up" - with help from mommy & daddy! We put your feet on the floor and hold you but you use your little legs to "stand"

A visit from Susan

We had a visit from Susan today and she brought us the pictures from the Baby Dedication. We have an amazing church!

3 months old

Today our little girl is 3 months old! I cannot believe how time has flown by and how much she has grown! She is 26 inches long and almost 14 pounds! Such a growing girl! She loves her little duck toy and can grasp it and has even started chewing on it! She can sit in her Bumbo chair - loves it! Thanks Jennifer, Mark & Jonathan for getting it for her. She is sleeping in her crib now and has been doing great! Only waking up once in the night, needing a hug and the pacifer and then its back to dreamland!

This little girl is so special to us and we are having so much fun!

Fall Funfest at church

Kate all dressed up for Halloween


Our friends Samantha and baby Avery - GREAT COSTUME!


Our friend Spencer Wallace


Watching Jonathan - AKA Handy Manny - shoot balloons

Pumpkin Patch with Grammy, Kristy, and Kayden

This Wednesday was a super fun one - we headed to the pumpkin patch! It had been rainy the past couple of days so everything was a little damp and muddy but we still managed to have fun!

Cathching up with pictures

Kate didn't mind the shots toooo much ...



Hanging out with daddy when mommy was out of town ...



In my Bumbo ...



Kate's new bear coat that Uncle Ryan got her



Daddy is SOOOOOO funny!



Ready to cheer for those HOGS!

Fast & Furious the past 3 weeks

W0W! The past 3 weeks have been a blur! We have been so busy running around that I haven't had time to post so this one will be a doozy!

On Oct 4, Chris and I dedicated Kate at church. This was an important day in all of our lives. We stood in front of the congregation and vowed to raise Kate in a Christian home and dedicated her to our Lord. We had waited so long for this day and were so happy to stand before our family and friends to make this promise that is so very important in the life our our sweet little girl.

"For this child I have Prayed" - I Samuel 1:27

The following Wednesday, Kate went to her pediatrician for her 2 month checkup ... and her first shots. I dreaded this day, but she was such a trooper! It was 3 shots - 2 in one leg and one in the other. She screamed (as expected) and daddy picked her up and mommy kissed her and she was all better. No fussiness that night and only a little fever of 99 degrees! Super baby!

That following weekend, we decided it was time for Kate to visit Branson. My parents have a house in Branson that is close to Tablerock Lake as well as the outlet malls. And yes, we hit the malls like crazy! Carters, The Children's Place, Osh Kosh, Baby Gap. And we managed to throw in 2 pairs of shoes and a sweater for mommy!

The next week was War Eagle. Mommy left on Wednesday afternoon and Kate got to go to Nonnie's house to play all day Thursday. Friday, Daddy took off work to hang out at home with Kate. By Saturday, mommy was REALLY missing Kate, so daddy sent lots of pictures to my phone, but I still could hardly wait to come home Sunday morning. Daddy did such a wonderful job on his Daddy weekend - even managed to vacuum the house and do a little laundry too!!

I'm sure you have noticed that there are no pictures on this post. I have several but they are on the computer in the office .. which is under construction at the moment! Yes, we always have a project going on! We have decided to get rid of all the carpet downstairs and put in hardwood floors! So exciting! But such a mess!!! We have until Thanksgiving to get the project done - everyone comes to our house for Thanksgiving dinner. It's a 6 year tradition. Yes, I know - we are CRAZY!!

A typical Friday

Hanging out on her activity mat. A little tummy time to strengthen her neck and arm muscles!





What a cute little monkey!

Cool Baby!

Some babies are super cool - Kate is certainly one. Here she is rockin out her pink Target sunglasses! :)



And she is getting to be such a big girl, holding her head up.



And she is certainly a very sweet little girl!

Kate goes to work

Today, Kate went to work - starting her off young! Grammy had to leave to go to Dallas for a car event and mommy had some work to do, so Kate went in to the office with mommy Wednesday afternoon. She was a very good girl the entire time and let mommy get her work done. We went during Kate's big afternoon naptime so she slept most of the time anyway. We just sat in one of the back offices so we would not be TOO much of a distraction! It is an office of all girls - well, besides Toney! :)

See how hard she is working:

A Day in Court

Today was a big day! We went to court to finalize Kate's adoption. We appeared in front of Judge Alice Gray and everything went great! Our social worker Janna from Bethany Christian Services (the adoption agency) was there as well as Kate's Grammy, Pops, and Nonnie. Kate's Pawpaw couldn't be there because of work, but we took lots of pictures! Our attorney Bill Waddell was wonderful and does a great job taking care of all the paperwork for us. It was all a formality but a very important day for our little family!

Kate got a little frog from Grammy and Pops and it came with an adoption certificate too! His name is Hops! It shows that Kate adopted Hops today as well! Thanks Grammy & Pops!

Back to work for Mommy!

So, I have decided that I will go back to work on a part-time basis. 2 days a week - I can do it, right? Well, today was the first day, and I have to say I did pretty good! I did come home for some lunchtime snuggles though. That's the perk of working a mile from home!

Kate's Grammy will come to play with her while mommy is at work, and I know they will have so much fun together! And Pops even came over to play too this afternoon! Kate loves her Pops - even though he has whiskers that tickle her! Especially her little toes!! Thanks to Grammy for taking on a 2nd job!

Plus, we all got to go out for Mexican food tonight for dinner. I hope she like Mexican food when she gets older - it is certainly a favorite! :)

First Fayetteville Razorback football game

Chris's company had the box at the Arkansas/Georgia game this past Saturday so we couldn't resist taking Kate to her first (of many) Razorback game. Even though we couldn't pull out a W, Kate did fantastic - people even commented on how behaved she was! :) She met more new friends and loved all the attention! She looked adorable in her little Razorback onesie that Daddy brought home for her - yes, mommy is not doing all the shopping! And she really loved her Razorback blankie that kept her warm from the night air.